RESILIENT · coupling REnewable, Storage and ICTs, for Low carbon Intelligent Energy maNagemenT at district level

Growing investments in distributed energy resources (DER) – renewable distributed energy generation combined with demand response, energy storage, plug-in electric vehicles and active management of distribution networks – will require new business and technology platforms to manage the increased level of diversity and complexity of global energy management. The increasing variability of both generation and loads will also require more sophisticated and decentralized decision making.The RESILIENT project aims to design, develop, install and assess the energy and environmental benefits of a new integrated concept of interconnectivity between buildings, DER, grids and other networks at a district level. The RESILIENT approach will combine different innovative technologies including smart ICT components, optimized energy generation and storage technologies, also for RES, integrated to provide real time accounts of energy demand and supply at a district level and assist in decision-making process.The project strategy relies on a comprehensive R&D and demonstration approach. The proposed integrated concept will be first modelled and simulated for different typologies of buildings and different climates and then installed, monitored and evaluated in three pilot projects (including residential and non residential buildings) in the UK, Belgium and Italy. These demonstrators will be used to assess the energy and environmental benefits of the new integrated concept and also to validate models and technologies in order for the concept to be easily replicable throughout different climatic areas.The major impact from RESILIENT will be the development of a complete value chain where the annual primary energy demand of buildings collated at a district level is decreased by at least 20% compared to their expected energy performance summed on an individual building basis, this energy gain being associated with a decrease of more than 20% of the CO2 emission reference level.